Check out a new Tiger Army interview!
The Punks vs. Psychos Tour invaded Club SLO Brew Tuesday night led by Tiger Army and their unique brand of, Psychobilly Punk Rock n Roll. The buzz early on outside the Sold-Out venue was a telltale sign of things to come inside. With an impressive line-up that included U.S. Roughnecks, F Minus, Roger Miret & The Disasters, & The Business, things got heated up quickly and never cooled down.
Tiger Army actually managed to turn up the heat a few degrees when they stormed the stage with their own brand of dark, aggressive American Psychobilly-where a rumbling stand-up bass crashed head on into haunting melodies in an explosion of nocturnal power. "Basically we go on stage and put out as much energy as possible and hopefully it comes back from the crowd as well" Nick 13 told us before the show. No worries on this night as the sold out crowd seemed to emit enough energy to light up a small city. 'It might sound obvious" Nick 13 added, "But really getting to play every night is the best thing, playing live is a lot of fun for us and it's something we really enjoy". Looking into the faces of the jam-packed crowd only seemed to verify this statement. Set to drop their third CD on June 29th, 2004, the band seems set for big things in the coming months and beyond, so don't miss out, join the Tiger Army today!!
Before Tiger Army's killer set, Central Coast Teens sat down with guitarist and lead vocalist, Nick 13, here is what he had to say:
Central Coast Teens: How's the tour going and how is the camaraderie between bands? Nick 13: It's been cool, there's five bands on the tour which is quite a few, but everyone's really cool and all the bands are really good, so it's been great so far.
CCTeens: Your band is no stranger to the road, what is your favorite and least favorite part of touring?
Nick 13: It might sound obvious, but really getting to play every night is the best thing, playing live is a lot of fun for us and it's something we really enjoy. Even if you're having a crappy day, 9 times out of ten when you get on stage, it's a totally different thing, so that's probably my favorite part of touring. My least favorite part is getting sick on tour, which is hard not to do, I just got over a cold on this one, it doesn't happen every tour, but almost every tour, so that's probably the worst thing.
CCTeens: How would you describe your live show?
Nick 13: I think it has a lot of energy; we're a three piece so I think we have to work a little harder to put on an exciting show than a band that has a front man that can go all over the place. Basically we go on stage and put out as much energy as possible and hopefully it comes back from the crowd as well.
CCTeens: Let's touch on that a little, most people will never experience the feeling of being on stage; can you describe your feelings when you are on stage?
Nick 13: It's basically like a huge adrenaline rush, I don't drink and I don't do drugs and a lot of times people are surprised by that "Don't you party on the road?" Really playing every night is more fun than any time I've been drunk you know? It's like you are partying but it's even more fun.
CCTeens: Speaking of live shows, which one or two over the years stand out for you, and why? Nick 13: One that definitely stands out is when we played a psychobilly festival in Tokyo called the "Tokyo Big Rumble", in 2001 and it was one of our early tours and it was just really amazing to go all the way around the world and see people going off to our music in such a different place than where we are from, it was pretty amazing to see.
CCTeens: There will of course be kids at tonight's show, that it will be their first concert. What was your first concert you attended? Nick 13: I don't remember what the first concert I went to; it was probably something with my parents like the County Fair or something. The first rock show I went to was The Replacements, and the first Punk show I went to was The Ramones, when I was about 14
CCTeens: Was there a certain event or personality that inspired you to make music your profession? Nick 13: For me, it was a pretty gradual thing. For me it was just the fact that I always loved music so much and it was really the only thing that I cared about. I went to school, I went to college, and there was still nothing as a career that excited me as much as music, so I decided that I was going to try and make a go at that, and if it failed, it failed and I would figure that out later, but luckily I have yet to have to figure that out.
CCTeens: Where your parents supportive?
Nick 13: Yea, very. There was a time when I had to move back home for a while, when before the first record, when I was trying to get this all going. They've always been very understanding that it takes some time to make something like this work.
CCTeens: Tell us about the new CD "III Ghost Tigers Rise", how does it differ from "Power of Moonlight" and did the songs translate to tape how you imagined them in your head writing them? Nick 13: Yea, I would say this record is probably... It captures the sounds I was trying to achieve definitely by far the best out of any of the records we've done, as far as going from my head to tape, it's definitely the closest we've come yet and we're really happy with that. As far as how it's different from the last record, it's kind of hard to describe, it's a progression in some ways but then it also kind of goes back and touches on the earlier elements of our sound as well. It's a little bit more mid tempo but it's definitely consistent with our sound. I don't think anyone who's a fan of any of the stuff we've done before will be disappointed, and it's my favorite thing that we've done.
CCTeens: What is your view on the music business now that you are part of it and what are your likes and dislikes about it? Nick 13: In general, you see a lot of stuff that gets a push that's just so phony that it's obvious the label has found some group of kids somewhere that have the right look, they put them in the studio with a producer who's writing their songs, and it's all just... it's not real, and unfortunately that's what gets pushed down people's throats most of the time, and that's what's successful but I think for us, we're focusing on the people who are smart enough to see through that and looking for something that's real.
CCTeens: With the Internet becoming a big factor, where do you see the business going in the next few years? Nick 13: That's difficult to answer, it's hard to say what's going to happen, I think we've probably been helped more than hurt by the Internet in terms of getting our name out there and people checking us out. The bottom line for us has always been that touring and playing live is more where we make our living rather than record sales, and that will probably be true in the future as well, but that's fine because some band's don't like touring, they don't like playing live. We love touring and playing live so it's not really a problem.
CCTeens: When you see someone out wearing your band's T-Shirt, how does it feel? Nick 13: It's cool you know? I tend to look at things like that; I tend to relate things like that to myself, as far as me growing up. There are a lot of band's that, who's music I felt gave me a lot and when I see a kid, or anyone else wearing our shirt I think of when that was me, and I'm always happy anytime anyone's enjoying what we do.
CCTeens: We are a website for Teens, what were your Teen years like? Nick 13: Not that cool really, everyone always says your Teenage years are supposed to be the best years of your life, but for me that's not true personally. Sitting in school, which was more like sitting in jail, I mean there was some good times when I wasn't in school, but all in all growing up wasn't that great. For me the real thing that I have is music. I grew up in a real small town, there were only a few other people who appreciated the music I liked, really I feel like my Teens were basically setting the stage for my 20's. That's something that I think kind of gets overlooked. Theirs so much emphasis from the media on your Teenage years it's hard to realize when you are a Teen that theirs a lot more to life that you haven't seen yet, your kind of made to feel that this is it, if things suck for me now, their always gonna suck, and that's not the case at all.
CCTeens: Who were your musical influences growing up?
Nick 13: Really kind of all over the place, because I grew up in a small town that was geographically isolated, it wasn't like there was one scene or sound going on in our city, and because of that I listened to stuff from all over the place. I listened to English Punk, Southern California Punk, dark pop, like The Cure and Depeche Mode, Rockabilly, it was really all over the map in terms of decades and geography, and that all kinda got mixed together eventually in the Tiger Army.
CCTeens: What song are you most proud of that you have written so far? Nick 13: That's a tough question. It's probably something on the new album, I'm really happy with a song on the new record called "A Rose in the Devils Garden" that's definitely one of my favorite songs that I've written.
CCTeens: Any advice for young musicians trying to get started? Nick 13: Basically it's not necessarily easy; anything worth doing takes hard work. If you persevere at it, if you keep doing it, you don't stop, whether that's practicing, trying to find the right people for your band, trying to get show and play shows, if you stay at it and don't give up something's going to happen sooner or later.
CCTeens: Is there a certain mindset you have to be in to write a song? Does it just come to you? Can you force it? How does that work for you? Nick 13: Inspiration is definitely something you can't force. If somebody put me in a room with a guitar and said "Ok, you have 2 hours to write a song", I could do it, but that's not the way I like to work. In general, I play guitar at home but I really wait for that feeling of inspiration. There's certain times when something just comes to you, and it can't really be forced, and sometimes you just have to wait for those times to come up with something you feel that is good.
CCTeens: Any final words for your fans on the Central Coast and beyond? Nick 13: I'd like to thank everybody for their support, I'm really proud of our new album, and I hope people will check that out when it comes out June 29th. If anyone wants more info on the band they can check out our website TigerArmy.com <http://www.tigerarmy.com> . Thanks!
Very special thanks to: Tiger Army, Shazila, Mohammed, Amanda Hale at MSO.
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